After understanding animal language, the villainous girl is guaranteed to become a heartthrob.

Chapter 720 You Must Be Good to Your Younger Brother
Upon hearing Xia Lu's words, Xu Shiling felt an overwhelming sense of loss deep within her.

If Xia Lu isn't Mei Bao, then where is Mei Bao...?

She pursed her lips, concealing the surging emotions in her chest, and said calmly, "It's okay, I can accept whatever the outcome."

"Okay." Xia Lu nodded. "So, how do I need to cooperate?"

Jiang Yuan said softly, "I need you to provide some identification materials, such as hair with the follicle, or used cups, bowls, and chopsticks."

"Can I just pluck two strands of hair?" Xia Lu said, reaching up and pulling out a few strands of hair from her head.

She thought for a moment, then rummaged through her bag and pulled out a half-empty bottle of mineral water. "Is this okay?"

Jiang Yuan: "Okay."

Before parting ways, Jiang Yuan and Xu Shiling both added Xia Lu as a WeChat friend.

They took a 5 p.m. flight back to Yunjing.

As soon as she got off the plane, Xu Shiling couldn't wait to get a DNA test done.

But she was too embarrassed to speak.

Fu Xiaoxiao came to pick them up at the airport, smiling broadly, and said, "How about we go eat Japanese cuisine?"

While fastening his seatbelt, Jiang Yuan said, "Okay, but we have to go to the testing center first, and then we'll go eat."

"Okay," Fu Xiaoxiao replied. "Just turn on the navigation."

Xu Shiling subconsciously raised her head, her eyes falling on Jiang Yuan, her tone filled with gratitude, "Yuan Yuan, thank you."

"Are you being so formal? Don't you consider me a friend?" Jiang Yuan joked.

"No, no," Xu Shiling explained helplessly, "Yuanyuan, don't misunderstand, I didn't mean that..."

"Just kidding." Jiang Yuan turned to look at her, amused. "Why are you so easily teased?"

"Shiling, Yuanyuan bullied you, we're not playing with her anymore," Fu Xiaoxiao said. "How about we stay at my place instead of hers tonight?"

She felt that if they met a few more times, Xu Shiling and Fu Xiaohang might develop feelings for each other.

Anyway, meeting more often definitely increases the chances of success than not meeting at all.

Jiang Yuan laughed and teased, "Xiaoxiao, your wishful thinking is so good it's practically hitting my face."

"No way," Fu Xiaoxiao said reproachfully. "Yuanyuan, don't talk nonsense. What bad intentions could I possibly have? I just like Shiling and want to spend more time with her."

When Xu Shiling heard Fu Xiaoxiao's blunt words, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she felt embarrassed.

"I know you're joking, Xiaoxiao," she quickly said. "I won't misunderstand."

"That's good!" Fu Xiaoxiao glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "Then will you sleep with me tonight?"

Xu Shiling knew that she didn't mean anything by it, but it still sounded a bit harsh to her at first.

"How about another day?" she asked hesitantly.

Fu Xiaoxiao readily agreed, "Okay, okay, how about tomorrow?"

Xu Shiling: "Huh?"

Jiang Yuan spoke up: "Shiling, don't pay attention to her, we'll talk about it when the holidays start."

"A holiday is fine too, just remember to tell me in advance when the holiday is." Fu Xiaoxiao chuckled.

That night, Xu Shiling lay in bed, but her mind was unusually clear.

She was thinking that if Xia Lu was Mei Bao, then she must find a way to help Mei Bao go to university.

My daughter is still so young. She should be living a vibrant and youthful life on a university campus, just like other girls.

She also wants to buy her younger sister lots of pretty clothes, figurines that little girls like, and all sorts of cosmetics...

But as Xu Shiling thought about it, she couldn't help but fall into anxiety and unease.

What if Xia Lu wasn't Mei Bao?
Xia Lu also suffered from insomnia that night.

After shopping with her friends and returning to the hotel, she took a shower and lay in bed, her thoughts drifting back to the conversation she had had that day.

Xu Shiling, Xu Shili.

She kept thinking about the two names.

If Xu Shili hadn't been kidnapped by human traffickers, they would definitely have been very close sisters. Even their names are so similar.

Xu Shili...who are you? Could you be me?

Xia Lu couldn't help but reminisce about her childhood.

She remembers that when she was very young, her parents loved her very much.

Every evening after dinner, they would take her out to play, stroll along the pedestrian street, and eat cotton candy.

Dad would carry her on his shoulders and ride her high.

Mom would braid her hair in cute pigtails and call her Lulu Baby.

They said she was born after her mother endured ten months of pregnancy and severe bleeding.

Mom said she was a piece of her own flesh and blood, her warm little cotton-padded jacket.

Xia Lu thought she would be her parents' only child.

One day, when Dad came home from get off work, Mom said something to him, and the two of them excitedly hugged each other.

Overjoyed, Dad exclaimed, "Great! We have a baby again!"

Xia Lu looked at them blankly.

Later, Mom's belly got bigger and bigger.

Later, she had a younger brother.

Xia Lu's parents told her, "This is your younger brother. You must be good to him from now on."

Little Xia Lu kept her parents' words in mind.

She used to be the little cotton-padded jacket that her father carried on his shoulders.

Later, she became a kind older sister who carried her younger brother on her back.

Xia Lu always remembered what her parents said: to be good to her younger brother.

But without realizing it, they forgot to be good to themselves.

It was only later that I realized my parents seemed to treat my younger brother better.

One day, Dad brought home a chocolate cake for my younger brother when he got off work.

She quietly mopped the floor beside them, so quiet it was as if she didn't belong in the family.

Xia Lu told herself that her father must not have brought enough money that day, which is why he only brought a chocolate cake for her younger brother.

But every day after that, her father's behavior repeatedly contradicted her initial thoughts.

It wasn't that she didn't have enough money that day, but that her father had never thought of buying her a chocolate cake.

She also mustered up the courage to ask her mother.

Why does my dad never buy me a cake?

Her mother told her, "Lulu, you are a good older sister. Your younger brother is different. He is still small and will only behave if he eats chocolate cake."

It turned out to be the case.

It turns out that she only bought chocolate cake for her younger brother to make him behave.

Xia Lu breathed a sigh of relief.

That's great, Mom and Dad do love me.

But later, when her parents went out, they still only bought gifts for her younger brother, whether it was snacks or toys, and she never got any of them.

Mom said, "Lulu, I know you're upset, but we don't have enough money to buy it for both of you. Your little brother is still younger, so please let him have it. When Dad gets his next paycheck, he'll buy you new clothes and a new schoolbag, and take you to KFC."

New clothes, new schoolbag, KFC.

Xia Lu waited with anticipation day after day, but her parents never kept their promise.

Until the year of her college entrance exam, she never received new clothes, a new schoolbag, or KFC; all she received was a sentence—

"Lulu, I have some bad news. Your father has been laid off from his company, and the family may not be able to afford to send both children to school. Your younger brother is still small. Could you..."